to reuse or not to reuse

Urban Land Institute enlists ideas to remake Houston's Downtown Post Office;four finalists emerge

Designed by Houston architecture firm Wilson, Morris, Crain & Anderson, thedowntown post office opened in 1962 with much fanfare.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
"The Post" plan by Columbia University, one of the few teams to repurpose theoriginal post office.
Rendering courtesy UIL/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition
"The Grand" by students from the University of California, Berkeley
Rendering courtesy UIL/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition
"The Hill" plan by students of the University of Michigan
Rendering courtesy UIL/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition
"Downtown BaYOU," University of Colorado/Harvard University
Rendering courtesy UIL/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition
The four final teams toured the site to get a firsthand look at thepossibilities for the post office property.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
Perched above Buffalo Bayou, the site offers a clear view of the downtownskyline.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
In front of the post office sits a cool mod garden designed by noted Houstonlandscape architect Fred Buxton.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
"The Grand" by students from the University of California, Berkeley
Rendering courtesy UIL/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition
"The Grand" by students from the University of California, Berkeley
Rendering courtesy UIL/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition
"The Post" by students from Columbia University
Rendering courtesy UIL/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition
"The Hill" plan by students of the University of Michigan
Rendering courtesy UIL/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition
"The Hill" plan by students of the University of Michigan
Rendering courtesy UIL/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition
"Downtown BaYOU" by the joint team of University of Colorado and HarvardUniversity.
Rendering courtesy UIL/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition

The downtown Houston Post Office and Processing Center opened to considerable fanfare in 1962 with a well-publicized ceremony that included the reading of a letter from President John F. Kennedy.

Sadly, the last decade has been unkind to the U.S. Postal Service as Internet and cell phone technology slowed mail volume to a trickle compared to the '60s. In 2009, it was announced that the Franklin Street property would be sold to offset the federal agency’s financial losses.

Each group is required to have at least one non-designer in its mix, leaving room for ideas from students working in fields like real estate, finance and even psychology.

The Urban Land Institute (ULI), a national non-profit dedicated to promoting responsible development projects, recently selected the downtown USPS lot near the intersection of I-10 and I-45 as the focus of its 10th annual Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition.

From almost 140 participating groups across the nation, four final teams — from the University of Michigan, University of California–Berkley, Columbia University and a joint team from Harvard and the University of Colodaro — were chosen in February.

Last week, the finalists visited the site for themselves.The property is bordered by a railyard on the north, the tiny Houston Amtrak station on the west with Smith Street and the University of Houston–Downtown on the east. Buffalo Bayou marks the southern-most edge of the site, bringing with it a rather serious flooding issue.

The ULI student contest, named for noted Houston developer Gerald Hines, looks for locations that will foster cooperation among future land use professionals ranging from architects and engineers to urban planners and historic preservationists.

Here's the hypothetical design scenario for this year's competition: The fictional Central Houston Foundation (CHF) is looking to redevelop the 16-acre post office site with the goal of creating a new economically-viable and community-oriented district to compliment the city's growing downtown.

In teams of five, students will serve as master developers to propose an over all land use plan as well as financial projections to measure the financial feasibility of the project. Each group is required to have at least one non-designer in its mix, leaving room for ideas from students working in fields like real estate, finance and even psychology.

Planning ahead

CultureMap joined the finalists on the tour of the post office property, trying to get a sense of how the projects might look when they're presented to ULI judges on April 5 and 6.

"The biggest part of our project was having park space," said Brian Chambers of the UC–Berkley team. "We took out Franklin Street and restored Washington to downtown, allowing for the park to go straight to the bayou, creating a Discovery Green-esque area."

Looking at projections estimating a 3.5 million rise in population throughout the next 25 years, the group took advantage of an option in the competition to secure additional land to better connect the site to light rail and encourage growth inside the city center.

"You don't get your backyard pool and your barbecue, but you get this huge park along the Bayou," he said. "Then you can jump on the commuter rail to see your friends living in the Heights or in another other part of town."

"You don't get your backyard pool and your barbecue, but you get this huge park along the Bayou," said Brian Chambers of the University of California–Berkley team.

As with many of the groups in the contest, the UC–Berkley team had to painfully weigh the costs of reusing the vintage mid-century post office. Of the four finalists, only the Columbia University students currently plan to repurpose the aging building.

"The tour of the site has raised a lot hard questions for us," said Chambers, an urban planning student. "We wanted to have adaptive reuse as part of our plan, but the time required by the [hypothetical] developers to get their money back, which was about 10 years, has made that a challenge."

But it's just this type of big-picture thinking ULI is attempting to draw out of the student competitors.

"There are two juries who select the winner," said ULI communications manager Robert Krueger, noting the first place award of $50,000 and the $10,000 cash prizes for the remaining three finalists. "One looks at the financials and another at the actual design. In the end, we want cities to be able to look at these projects and ideas as possibly viable solutions."

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respectful design

New Montrose studio brings bespoke European design to Houston

Photo by Laurie Perez

Armazem.design is located in the historic Winlow Westheimer buildings.

Houston’s newest interior design showroom is a dazzling display of how historic preservation and swanky European design can slip into a harmonious dialogue that quietly dismisses the longstanding notion that contemporary furniture has no place within the oftentimes rigid constraints of a traditional home.

Tucked between The Upper Hand Salon and The Phoenix Pub in the historic Winlow Westheimer buildings, Armazem.design is a lifestyle design boutique carrying elevated European design and architectural solutions from century-old brands such as Arclinia, Lema, Barausse, Foscarini, Gaggeneau, and Sub-Zero Wolf.

The name Armazem pays homage to founder and principal Jon Fante’s Brazilian roots. Traditionally, armazems were community cornerstones — general stores where people not only shopped but also learned, connected, and built long-term relationships. Appropriate then, that Fante would choose to nestle himself between a salon and a pub, two businesses that are traditional archetypes for familiarity and community.

Armazem.design is set up like a bespoke home as opposed to a traditional contemporary design concept space. With everything from stately 1920s Victorians to cozy 1930s bungalows still in play in Montrose, setting up shop in a “Houston Browns” brick building from the 1930s — complete with original wide plank floors, exposed brick interior, and open rafter ceilings — allows clients to get a genuine feel for how the product lines work within the framework of these older homes.

Fante, who was born, raised, and educated as a civil engineer in Brazil, came to the States in 2006 to handle US operations for Florense. Fante retired from his position as CEO in 2017 to start Armazem.design in Chicago. The decision to expand to Houston is something that Fante says was a no-brainer, as Houston has been moving towards a more contemporary style overall.

“What we are trying to show here is that you don’t have to be in the extremes. You don’t have to be in the extremes of classic American design, which is beautiful, and what is also perceived here as European design, which is super contemporary, which is also beautiful,” Fante tells CultureMap. “There is a breadth of solutions in the inbetween.”

The buildout for Armazem.design takes clients on a journey through two kitchens, a living room, dining room, generously-appointed closet and dressing space, home office, and casual den space, all outfitted with wall units, complex storage solutions, and warm, comfortable furnishings. Formerly open spaces have been divided into distinct concepts using architectural partitions that can be designed for any space.

Every aspect of Armazem.design is custom made to order. The design may follow a more European school, but there are wooden elements and handmade objects that protect their environment from the contemporary curse of feeling cold, uninviting, or institutional. With lead times around three to four months, going bespoke here is as accessible as placing orders from mainstream retailers.

“While there is a focus on kitchens, there are a lot of different products that we bring,” says Fante. “We are a showroom that is focused on interior architectural applications for home. We have partners in doors, partitions, wall paneling, closets — there is a lot. We got this historical place in Montrose and we made it as a home. We want people to walk in and feel like they could live here. It’s very comprehensive.”

The owners of the building are currently working with the city to gain historical recognition, something that would mean a lot for the neighborhood, and to Fante.

“We were very lucky to find this space. We preserved every historical element in the showroom — you see these very rustic floors, these floors are almost 100 years old.” Fante discovered more of the historic “Houston Browns” brick during the renovation (the classic Houston brick has been out of production for decades), all hidden behind swathes of drywall. “We ripped that all out to expose the true character of the space,” Fante explains. “Of course we kept the brick.”

Fante shares that the decision to restore the building led to a phrase from an architect in their Chicago showroom that has remained their motto here in Montrose: “Let’s not bully the space, let’s respect it.” That’s a sentiment that the entire neighborhood can get behind.

Armazem.design is located at 1911 Westheimer Road and is open Monday through Friday from 9 am-5 pm.

Photo by Laurie Perez

Armazem.design is located in the historic Winlow Westheimer buildings.

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